Brendan Rodgers enjoyed tremendous success during his first spell as the Celtic manager.
Overseeing a Double Treble, the Irishman’s brand of football at that time was blowing away all the domestic competition before him.
However, there was one iconic season that will live long in the memory of the Celtic fans and that was the incredible Invincibles Treble season of 2017.
Picking up all three domestic honours without suffering a single defeat is virtually unheard of so I decided to have a look at the major players of that season and look at where they are now.
The Celtic Invincibles 2017
During his first spell as the Celtic boss, Rodgers brought in some of his own players and combined them with the squad that Ronny Deila left behind.
Celtic sealed the Invincibles Treble with a 2-1 win over Aberdeen in the 2017 Scottish Cup final. So let’s take a look at that Hampden line-up and match-day squad and take a look and see where they are at now:
Goalkeeper: Craig Gordon
Craig Gordon signed for Celtic in 2014 after recovering from a serious knee injury that threatened his football career.
A free agent, Gordon went on to make 242 appearances for Celtic picking up six league titles, four Scottish Cups and five League Cups.
He currently plays for Hearts.
Defender: Mikael Lustig
Mikael Lustig was an extremely popular figure amongst the Celtic fans. He is also one of the most decorated players in Celtic’s history with 16 major honours to his name.
Lustig left Celtic in 2019 to join Gent where he spent a season before heading back to Sweden with AIK where after two seasons he hung up his boots and retired.
Defender: Jozo Simunovic
Jozo Simunovic was an anomaly as a defender. Keep him fit and he will do a great job for you. Probably most famous for ‘that’ tackle on Kenny Miller at Ibrox, Simunovic made 126 appearances for Celtic.
Picking up 11 major honours, the Croatian-born Bosnian left Celtic for Gorica where after just one season and eight appearances, he left the club in 2022. He’s still a free agent at 29.
Defender: Dedryck Boyata
Dedryck Boyata signed for Celtic in 2015 under Ronny Deila and went on to make 135 appearances for Celtic.
Frustratingly, he left the club to join Hertha Berlin on a free transfer in 2019 where he spent three seasons.
He’s now at Club Brugge in the Belgian Pro League.
Defender: Kieran Tierney
Kieran Tierney was a product of the Celtic academy who enjoyed immense success under Brendan Rodgers.
Promoted to the Celtic first team by Deila, Tierney won 11 domestic honours at Celtic before making his record-breaking transfer to Arsenal in 2019.
Still at the London club, Tierney spent last season on loan at Real Sociedad and is now entering the final year of his deal at the London club.
Midfielder: Scott Brown
Scott Brown is arguably Celtic’s most successful captain since Billy McNeill. With 23 domestic honours to his name, Brown captained Celtic to the club’s second nine-in-a-row and a Quadruple Treble.
Leaving the club after the ill-fated COVID season, Brown went to Aberdeen as player-coach. Taking up his first managerial role at Fleetwood Town in 2022, the legendary former Celtic captain left the League One side in September 2023 and is now manager of Ayr United.
Midfielder: Stuart Armstrong
Another Ronny Deila signing, Stuart Armstrong joined Celtic from Dundee United in 2015. Armstrong equalised in the final after cancelling out Johnny Hayes’ 9th-minute opener.
Picking up eight domestic honours over a three-season spell, Armstrong left Celtic to join Southampton in 2018 on a four-year deal.
Released by The Saints at the end of last season, Armstrong is still looking for a new club despite taking part in the Euro 2024 tournament with Scotland.
Attacking midfielder: Callum McGregor
Callum McGregor has been at Celtic since he first began his football career. A product of the youth academy, McGregor is now the captain of the club.
With 22 domestic honours to his name, McGregor captained Celtic to a record-breaking eighth domestic treble and won a double last season under Brendan Rodgers.
Contracted to Celtic until 2028, the legendary midfielder is likely to end his career at the club.
Winger: Patrick Roberts
Patrick Roberts joined Celtic as a highly-rated winger from Premier League side Manchester City in 2016 on loan.
Roberts dazzled the Celtic Park crowds with his trickery and direct running as he picked up seven trophies over two temporary spells.
Now at Sunderland, the 27-year-old will be hoping to take the Tyneside club up from the Championship into the Premier League in the upcoming season.
Winger: Scott Sinclair
One of Brendan Rodgers’ first signings, Scott Sinclair made an instant impact at Celtic scoring the winning goal in an opening-day fixture against Hearts in 2016.
Sinclair left Celtic to join Preston North End in 2020 with 11 winners medals around his neck.
Now at Bristol Rovers, the 35-year-old has just signed a one-year extension that will keep him at the League One club until the end of next season.
Striker: Leigh Griffiths
Signed from Hibs in 2014, Leigh Griffiths was another enigma at the club. Much berated for his fitness by Brendan Rodgers, the Scotland striker still scored 18 goals and created 15 despite playing second fiddle to Moussa Dembele for much of the season.
Leaving Celtic in 2022, Griffiths had a short spell at Falkirk before travelling Down Under with 16 winners medals to join Mandurah City.
Griffiths is still at the Australian club where he currently undertakes a player/coach role.
Celtic substitution: Tom Rogic
Tom Rogic will best be remembered for the famous last-minute winning goal that sealed the Invincibles Treble win at Hampden.
The Wizard of Oz danced past the Aberdeen defence and just when it looked like he had taken it too far, he executed a superb finish to seal the historic win.
With 17 trophies, Rogic left Celtic in 2022 as a hero and legend and spent six months out of the game before joining West Brom.
After just six months at the Championship side, Rogic left The Baggies and has now retired from football.
Celtic substitution: Erik Sviatchenko
Erik Sviatchenko was brought to Celtic by Ronny Deila in January 2016 on a four-and-a-half-year deal.
Injury plagued most of his time at the club and after winning 6 trophies at Celtic, the Dane left the club after just two seasons.
Sviatchenko spent five years at FC Midtjylland before making the switch to the MLS.
He now plays for Houston Dynamo where he won the US Open Cup in 2023.
Unused Celtic substitutions
Remarkably some of Celtic’s most influential players over Brendan Rodgers’ first tenure at the club never made an appearance in that historic Hampden final.
With only three subs allowed at the time, there were huge players left on the bench and some of them will still go down in history as an Invincible after making a major contribution to the season as a whole.
Moussa Dembele
Moussa Dembele was Rodgers’ first signing as the Celtic manager. Picked up for a bargain fee due to cross-border transfer rules, the Frenchman was a huge success at Celtic.
51 goals in 94 appearances made Dembele a huge fan favourite and his hattrick in his first-ever Glasgow Derby endeared him instantly to the Celtic support.
Seven trophies later, Dembele left Celtic to join Lyon in 2018 for a then-club record fee and had a short loan spell at Atletico Madrid.
Leaving the French side after his contract expired, Dembele is enjoying life in the Saudi league with Steven Gerrard’s Al-Ettifaq.
James Forrest
James Forrest has been a remarkable servant to Celtic. The original one-club man, Forrest is Celtic’s second-most decorated player.
Still at the club, Forrest was a huge player for Brendan Rodgers towards the end of last season as he helped to wrap up the league title and Scottish Cup double.
Forrest has scored in every single season he has appeared in the Celtic first-team and will no doubt play a huge part for Rodgers next season as he looks to defend his title.
Nir Bitton
Nir Bitton was another unused sub on that historic afternoon. After spending nine years at Celtic, Bitton left Parkhead in the same season as Tom Rogic in 2022.
With 15 Celtic honours to his name, Bitton is back in Israel where he currently plays for Maccabi Tel Aviv where he is likely to take up the option of a third year at the club.
Two other Celtic players were on the bench that day. Dorus de Vries arrived at the club to take over from Craig Gordon as a Rodgers signing.
But high-profile errors meant he was quickly relegated from the starting lineup and barely featured for the rest of his time at the club.
He left the club in 2019 and announced his retirement from football.
Cristian Gamboa was another unused Celtic substitute. Signed in 2016, the Costa Rican just couldn’t establish himself in the team due to the form of Lustig.
He left Celtic to join German side Bochum in 2019 after making just 31 appearances. He is still playing in the Bundesliga to this day.
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